2018 Newbie Chat!

[PNW_Peepers]

will a cockeral be alpha at this point? Here's our alpha that's looking more cockeral to us.
View attachment 1334075 View attachment 1334076

He looks like a cockerel to me. That comb is pretty pink and pronounced already. Their pecking order will continue to change from what I hear until up to two years of age. They’re positions may seem set but that may change once they start to lay.

 

[Cbarr00]

He looks like a cockerel to me. That comb is pretty pink and pronounced already. Their pecking order will continue to change from what I hear until up to two years of age. They’re positions may seem set but that may change once they start to lay.

Thank you! We have 13 and all but 3 are straight run but we are looking at 4 that have very suspicious comb size/color compared to others who are the same size and breed. Only one of our straight runs seems cockeral. I had to buy an extra feeder today bc big red in the photo controls who eats when he's eating. He'll walk around the feeder and make others leave. If others are fighting he will run and jump in too. Lol.
I went to TSC to get more chick feed and they still have chicks coming in. They were 75 cents today too. I had to leave before I was tempted. They actually had labels on the bin this time. When we bought ours there wasn't and we are just playing a guessing game as to what we bought. So far only one breed is correct and that's our SS. We have 5 breeds and have figured out 3.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

@Cbarr00 take some pictures and post a thread in the breed/gender forum or even on here. I’m sure someone on here knows what you have. TSC and feed stores drive me nuts with mislabeling of chicks.
We went into one last week and they were trying to sell cochins as Silkies. I don’t think they knew any of the breeds they had.

 

[Cbarr00]

@PNW_Peepers I have and everyone says to wait until they feather out more. I'm so impatient tho. Lol. We have the two unknown breeds are red but different shades and when they were younger they had different feather patterns.
These are the two different reds.

Here we have our mystery light red up top. Our buff orp on the bottom left and mystery dark red bottom right.


When I went in just now I was talking to one of the employees who was actually honest about them not really knowing what breeds or sexes they had. They posted on FB that they won't guarantee breed or sex. LOL!

 

[Cbarr00]

We were told these guys were Cornish cross but they're around 5 weeks old now so we highly doubt they're CornishX and when we posted on breed/gender forum they said the same thing. They're believed to be white Plymouth rocks. Then next to him is our BO who was in a bin labeled straight runs with no specific breeds listed and variety of colors in there. Then we have the SS. The SS were the only ones labeled correctly. They had our darker reds labeled red Sussex and they were mixed in with the SS. Then we learned those are very rare!


And silly me decided to start some seedlings (black box in pic) for my first garden only to find out my chickens will destroy it! Lol. So now trying to figure out where to put my garden out of chicken reach.

 

[CannedMonster]

I’m pretty blessed that our local TS has a couple of employees that have their own chickens and at least know something about them.
However, one employee that’s a friend gets really frustrated with other employees that put the chicks out in the brooder after they’ve been received.
It’s because they have signage for the brooder bins but the employees don’t ask her how to organize them and they end up putting breeds that look alike as chicks in the same brooder together.
Like Barred Rocks together with Dominique and/or Australorp.
One bin had Cuckoo Maran chicks with Australorp and Black Sex Links
There was no rhyme or reason to it.
My friend was like, “I would not have done this.”

 

[CannedMonster]

So newbie question here guys. Pecking order is being established and my chicks are almost 5 weeks. We are supposed to have all pullets except 3 that came from a straight run bin. So question: will a cockeral be alpha at this point? Here's our alpha that's looking more cockeral to us.
View attachment 1334075 View attachment 1334076

My chicks are only 2 weeks and already I think I see cockerels based on behavior.
There’s 3 or 4 that LOVE to chest bump and square off with each other.
They also love to jump onto the backs of other chicks and onto anything within reach.
They’re very bold and have lost most of their fear of me.
I’m afraid both of my bantams may be male. That’s okay because I’ll keep them no matter what but my Turken males will go to freezer camp so I’m trying not to get attached to any of them and I’m not naming any until I know which are pullets.

 

[CannedMonster]

My older birds have changed their pecking order since they started laying.
Penelope was on the bottom and now she’s risen to #2. I was very surprised at that.

 

[Dragonflydore]

Y'all got me worried that my favorite is a roo. She's so bold and friendly...no fighting but she comes running to.me and jumps right on my hand demanding to be held.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

@Cbarr00 your mystery reds look like red stars or RIR to me. In the photo with your seed starts there is a white bird, I’m thinking it’s your Cornish x